The Digital Kunai
by VampCinder
Summary: Naruto died a hero's death alongside Zabuza, but something like that never stopped Naruto from getting revived to keep saving the world. Of course, the ones who revived him didn't leave him without help. Gamer!Naruto, Gamer!Zabuza, and technically OOC Jashin if you want to count it. NOT a crossover with manhwa "The Gamer". [Currently on temporary hiatus for rewrite]


**Author's Note:** Oh hey, I didn't see you there. I was just sitting here contemplating suicide after that terrible 8th chapter of The True Child of Light. Instead I decided to start a third story to complete the triangle so that I can still be productive and write when I'm burnt out on the other two. This one is hopefully different from anything that you have seen before specifically. Yes, this is a gamer story, but it isn't exactly what you expect. It has a big twist that comes with it that I think you'll like.

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official release.

 **Important Notes: (Actually read these this time! It's kinda important!)**

• Knowledge of some techniques are a lot more widespread in this. It never made sense to me that Naruto and Sakura didn't even know what the Sharingan was without someone explaining it to them.

• Yes I watch swagkage videos. Anyone else who does will probably recognize that fact in this chapter. I make a little reference to one of his videos.

• I won't be doing the whole "gamer's mind" and "gamer body" in this. Those are kinda stupid and take away from the story in my opinion.

Please enjoy!

 **Chapter 1: World One**

Zabuza was bleeding from almost every inch of his body. He had daggers, swords, axes, and even spears stuck into his body in various different places. His skin had become deathly pale and his breathing was ragged. One more blow to any part of his body would take him down permanently. At any moment he could be taken out.

His senses and reflexes were still on high alert as usual, and his mind wouldn't ever be caught off guard by any of the grunts that he was up against. However that didn't mean that his physical body was up to the task. The mercenaries had gotten in a few lucky hits because he couldn't use his arms, and it caused him to slow down considerably.

Any second now he would drop dead along with Haku and go to hell, he was sure of it. He wasn't necessarily proud of a lot of the things that he did in his life, but he sure as hell didn't regret any of them. He knew that what he did all along was to complete his lifelong ambition, even if not many people agreed with it. All that mattered anymore was that Haku supported his dreams, even if all of his other allies were dead. As long as Haku was around, he could keep going.

But Haku wasn't around anymore, and if he wasn't there alongside Zabuza, he had no reason to chase his dreams anymore. Many people were under the opinion that Haku couldn't live without Zabuza, and while that was true, it was possibly even more so in reverse. After a while, Zabuza began to depend on Haku just as much as he did on Zabuza. He began to yearn for Haku's approval for his methods, and he came to care for Haku more than his own life.

He would never admit that out loud of course. At least, not until they met again after death. But he didn't find that very likely, so he decided to be content with just thinking it.

Zabuza sensed a presence rushing towards him on his right side from across the bridge. He turned his head slowly and saw a mercenary with a spear running towards him, weapon pointed stiffly. The man cried a violent war cry as he closed in for the kill. Zabuza's eyes closed slowly with pain in even the simplest of motions as he thought his final thoughts.

Zabuza looked up and smiled. 'So this is where it ends huh? Getting killed by some lowly grunt working for scum like Gato? Ah, well at least I took out the little scumbag out with me, along with over half of his men. Sorry Haku, but I don't think that I'll be seeing you again.'

But the sharp pain in his side never came. Instead he only heard the sound of a spear piercing through flesh, but didn't actually feel it. Zabuza began to open his eyes and look to the right again. 'Am I already dead? Is that why I didn't feel any pain?'

No, he was still standing on the bridge, still covered with blood, and still had weapons sprouting out of every spot on his body. It wasn't him who had a spear through him though, not him who was breathing his last breath, not him thinking one of his final thoughts.

Instead, a blond boy was standing in front of him, a spear head and shaft sticking through his back. He was desperately holding onto the shaft, trying to push it forward, but the point was hooked and refused to exit the way it came. The wielder of the spear let go of the spear and backed up.

Seeing the failed attempt of their comrade, multiple shinobi also began to rush towards Zabuza. He could faintly hear the cries of Hatake for his student as he tried to make his way through the masses of mercenaries.

Zabuza once again said farewell, this time also thinking of the blond boy who foolishly saved him. However his death still never came. That same boy once again intercepted the attacks, still gathering more and more weapons in his body as more mercenaries ran forward. Although he wasn't nearly as skilled as Zabuza, and so it only took a few seconds for him to be as injured as him.

They were both drenched in blood, some of it on Zabuza not being his own. Zabuza commended the boy on holding on for so long, but still admonished him mentally for his stupid bravery.

'Come on kid, you should know better than that. It won't get you anywhere in life, although I guess nothing will for much longer huh?' Zabuza thought as his knees weakened under him and he lowered to the ground. The blond did the same, both of them now pressing their backs against each other as they breathed their last few breaths, with the weapons in their backs making it fairly difficult.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zabuza saw Hatake take down the last grunt and begin to rush to their side.

Zabuza coughed up some blood onto his chin. "Hey kid. Stupid thing you did there. Brave, but stupid."

Naruto also wretched quietly. "Heh…I couldn't just let them do you in like that though. It would go against….everything that I stand for." He said weakly in a raspy voice. "I guess that I'll never become Hokage now huh? I started out wanting people to recognize me for once, but now all I can think of is that I want to help them, all of those people in Konoha. Ah whatever, it doesn't really suit me anyway. All that paperwork and formal crap."

Zabuza smirked a little bit. "You know kid, my dream was always to be the Mizukage. I wanted to free my people from the tyranny that they were ruled under….I tried to take on the entire village on my own to overthrow the Mizukage, but it didn't go so well. I guess I'm in the same boat though. I'm not suited for the job either."

They both smiled lightly in unison as they went limp, the light fading from their eyes and hazing over, never closing even in death, never looking at each other, but knowing how the other felt. They were both two men…..no, two ninja of the same kind.

At the end of their lives, they understood each other at least a little bit. They didn't know each other's life stories, or even their likes and dislikes, but they understood that they held the same dream. The same purpose and meaning. There was one thing that they both wanted.

To protect their people.

And with that, two shinobi, one legendary and one destined to be, died in silence.

Both of them experienced darkness for what seemed like forever. Except that their eyes fluttered open.

Naruto weakly gazed up at the sky above him….or the ceiling above him. The oddly familiar drywall ceiling above him. With the same scratches and burn marks as his ceiling at home.

'Is this the afterlife? A copy of my apartment? Really? Whatever deity is out there couldn't even upgrade me to an average house?'

Naruto felt his leg with his hand. 'Huh. Well I have a physical body, and I'm not naked. I'm not wearing my jacket and pants either though. No headband, so I guess the afterlife at least gives you new clothes, that's good.

He brought his head up to look at his outfit. He was currently wearing his pajamas. Not some fancy robe or anything, but his same old pajamas that he always wore to sleep when he was in his house. At least the gods were accurate when recreating his apartment.

He began to rise when he felt his arm brush against something stiff to his left. When he looked over, he saw none other than…Zabuza Momochi. His sword was also right next to him leaning against the wall.

At that moment of course, Zabuza's eyes also flicked open and he lifted up quickly. "Wh-where am I?" He said frantically as he looked around. When he saw Naruto, his eyes widened. "Kid…..why are you in hell too?"

"That's where we are?! Hell?! How do you know?" Naruto yelled.

"I'm me. The only place that I could go after death is hell, but what about you? What did you do that was bad enough to get you landed here with me?" He answered questioningly. "And what is this place supposed to be anyway?"

Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. "How should I know? I've been a good person all my life…but maybe…." He paused. "Nah whatever. Anyways, this place looks exactly like my apartment in Konoha. I don't know why you showed up with me though. Maybe because we died together? Maybe there isn't really a hell, just an afterlife where everyone goes. Or maybe you're judged by your intentions and your mind, not your actions in life. Maybe that means that you're in heaven, after all you're actually a pretty good guy."

Zabuza growled. "Stop saying maybe so much. This place is your apartment? Then check how accurate it is."

Naruto nodded and looked around the room. "Well it's mostly right….but it's strange. It's like an old version of my apartment, before I got assigned to Team 7. The photo of all of us isn't here. This is my apartment from some time before I became a Genin. What about you?"

Zabuza looked down at his clothes. "Yeah, these are the same clothes that I wore about three months ago, before we met."

They would have continued their conversation further, but they were interrupted when a small blue horizontal rectangle popped up out of nowhere in front of each of them.

 **[You Have Slept on Your Run-Down Bed.**

 **HP and CP Fully Restored.]**

They both jumped back and yelled. Zabuza spoke first. "What the hell is that? Where did it come from?!"

"How should I know?! What the hell are HP and CP?"

Another blue rectangle popped up in front of each of them.

 **[Automatic Tutorial Help System]**

 **• HP Stands for "Health Points", which symbolize the amount of life or "Health" that you have left. If your HP reaches zero, you die. Resting, eating in some cases, and getting healing can bring your HP back up. Alternatively, your HP can regenerate over time, but in most cases it takes much longer than getting healing of some kind.**

 **• CP Stands for "Chakra Points", which symbolize the amount of chakra that you have left. If drained to zero, you will pass out from severe chakra exhaustion and if your HP is low enough, you may die. CP can also be brought back over time, through resting, and healing.**

 **If you need any further assistance, please simply say "Menu" and select the help system.**

Naruto blanched. "If we run out of HP we die?" He gulped. "Well we had better not do that then."

"Don't worry, that's just the same as dying normally, just with a term for how close you are to dying." Zabuza said plainly while still mulling over the information. "Menu."

Two screens popped up again.

 **-Character**

 **-Options**

 **-Controls**

 **-Scores**

 **-Help**

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Are we both gonna keep getting the same thing every time either of us says anything?" He asked to Zabuza.

Of course, the blue boxes decided to pop up once again.

 **You may turn off dual screens in the options menu. You may always turn this back on in the future. It is recommended to be turned off when away from your partner, however it could be useful in certain situations.**

Naruto tapped the word "Options", and to his surprise it was actually solid and reacted. The screen changed into something different. It showed a list of things with boxes to check or not check, and things to toggle. Naruto scrolled down until he found dual screens and turned it off. "There we go, now let's look into this a little bit more. Uhhhh….menu?"

The screen went pure blue for a moment before reverting back to the menu, listing the same things as before.

"Character." Naruto said uncertainly.

 **[Welcome to the Character Menu. Please select a topic from below to view.]**

 **-Introduction [!]**

 **-Stats**

 **-Level**

 **-Quests**

 **-Skills**

Zabuza did the same and the screen popped up for him as well.

Naruto tapped on the Introduction tab because it had a marker next to it. Zabuza once again did the same, although possibly more due to the fact that an introduction would be very important.

 **Welcome gamers! You have both died and due to absolute boredom among other things, the deities have decided to give you both another chance at life. You have been taken back to the day of Naruto Uzumaki's graduation ceremony where fresh Genin will receive their Jounin sensei. The gamer ability will give you the power to play through your life as if it were a video game! Neither of you actually know what that is, so you should bother finding out at some point.**

 **You will be able to learn new skills, observe your own stats, and manipulate your bodies and minds with skill points. Skill points can be earned through various different means such as leveling up.**

 **You may use the stats menu to see your own status and equipment. You will also be able to see your number of deaths that you have gone through and the amount of time that you have been stuck in this loop.**

Naruto blanched once again. "L-loop? You mean that we're gonna keep getting brought back every time we die?!"

A new box popped up in front of the other one.

 **Yeah duh. Wait until the end of this page for questions. It makes things easier for all three of us.**

"Agh! So there's someone actually listening and responding to us?!"

 **Yeah get used to it, I lost a dare and I'm stuck with you guys. Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Tsukuyomi are all laughing at me so hard right now. They're still drunk. I'm Jashin by the way, so call me Jashin-sama. Now let me get on with the menu explanation. I can see you too by the way, so don't do anything stupid or insulting.**

Naruto nodded and bowed. "I apologize Jashin-sama. Please continue with your explanation." He said respectfully. Naruto was a rude person, but one thing that was taught universally in the elemental nations was that you never disrespected a god on the off chance that one contacted you, even if you didn't like the god.

 **Good. Now, let's continue. The level menu is used for leveling yourself up and gaining new abilities from it as a sort of skill shop. You can look into it more on your own for more details.**

 **The quest menu will show you any ongoing quests or large possible quests in the area. Any that are grayed out are like that due to either unavailability to perform the task or not knowing about it. New quests can be added through a plethora of means such as self-adventure, requests from other people, etc.**

 **The flaws menu shows any imperfections or problems that you may hold in your body or personality. Some are temporary while some stay forever.**

 **Finally, the skills menu shows your current list of skills such as jutsu of any kind, and allows you to rearrange them.**

 **Now you can ask questions.**

"So we're stuck in a loop? Forever?!"

 **Yeah you're stuck in a loop, but not necessarily forever. Anything other than you dying at the proper age that was set will take you back. Worry not though, occasionally there will be checkpoints that "Save" your game so that that moment will be added to a list that you can choose from after you die. Whatever you choose will be when and where you are reborn. These checkpoints will usually happen before or after very important points. I actually gave you this power as an apology for forcing you into all of this. You're both important to the timeline of your world, so we had to bring you back. Normally we would just help by making you hang onto life by a thread miraculously, but we were somewhat late this time. So we decided to give you this power to make things a little bit more lively.**

Zabuza sighed. "Dammit. And just how old do we get before this ends?"

 **Well each of you have a different number. Zabuza Momochi, your end age is 79 years old.**

"Huh. Well that's better than most ninja, so I can't really complain."

 **You are very lucky that it is me who you are speaking to boy. If you were speaking to Tsukuyomi, you would already be dead for speaking so informally to a god. But yes, that is the age that you will die at. Now onto the next participant. Naruto Uzumaki, your end age is 135 years old.**

Naruto and Zabuza both did a spit take. Naruto waved his hands around in front of himself. "Hold on. 135?! I'll outlive everyone else that's alive right now!"

 **We are aware of that, however that was not decided by us. Due to various reasons, your body will live much longer than others. I won't tell you what though, so don't ask. I should note that unless you never die again until then, you will most likely live much longer in total.**

"Oh. Alright then, well thanks anyways. I suppose it's nice to know that I'll live that long. Is there anything else that we should know about the loop Jashin-sama?"

 **Hmmm. Well yes, one more thing. In this particular reincarnation, you are both in the same world. We did this because the assistance of Zabuza would help you think rationally and would allow you to get situated easier. However when either one of you dies, you will be put into a different world. It will be identical in every way to your original world, but your partner will not come with you.**

Naruto looked up at Zabuza. "Well I guess we won't always stick together then. But look on the bright side, when we meet each other after we die we'll know about the other one already. I'll be able to tell an alternate you all about Gato's plans in my worlds, and you can deal with Gato early in yours."

Zabuza nodded. "I guess so kid. But try not to die too soon alright? I want to keep that death counter as low as I can."

 **Ah yes, and one last thing. Much like a video game, you will be able to select skills and perks as you level up. In addition, when you die you will also be able to get a little bit more. As you complete events in your lives, you will get victory points. After death, you may use these victory points to gain even stronger perks. You'll see what I mean when you die.**

"When I die? You mean if I die right?"

 **No. When you die. You will die a lot. You'll be surprised how often knowing the future will get you killed. Again, you'll see. Anyways, I've gotta go for now. It's time for my daily "Tell Hidan that I don't actually want him to kill people for me and once again have him call me a false idol because he doesn't think that it's really me" appointment. Honestly, I punish those who fail to understand the pain of others, but I stopped asking for sacrifices thousands of years ago.**

Naruto tilted his head. "Who's Hidan?"

 **….He's a person. You'll probably meet him one day. I'll feel sorry for you when you do, but just agree with him and try to have as little conversation with him as possible and get away. And if he says anything about me and sacrifices, please don't listen to him. Anyways, bye. The help system will help you when I'm not around.**

"Uhhh…Alright then. Goodbye Jashin-sama. Thank you for your help."

Zabuza sat back down on the bed. "So what now?"

"Well since I'm here essentially back in time, I've replaced old Naruto right?"

"Hmm. Well I suppose so yeah. Why?"

Naruto sweat a little bit. "Uhhhh…..Doesn't that mean that you replaced the Zabuza in this world too?"

"Get to the point kid. So what?"

Naruto sighed. "So Haku is alive again."

"…."

Zabuza jumped up and grabbed Kubikiribōchō from behind him. "OH SHIT! Where the hell was I three months ago?! I need to go find Haku! I'll fucking see you later kid! And change your fucking outfit! I'd rather not die because you look like a giant orange just threw up on you!" He yelled as he jumped out of the window.

Naruto sweatdropped. "Uh…yeah. See you…..OH SHIT! Where the hell was I three months ago?! I need to get to the academy to get a Jounin sensei!"

Naruto stumbled around while putting on his gear and getting ready. He put his headband on his forehead, grabbed a piece of bread, and sprinted out his door at full speed.

 **[Quest Alert!]**

 **Run, run, run! – You were distracted by the events of the day and are about to be late to your graduation ceremony, and now you only have ten minutes to make it there. Run as fast as you can and make it to classroom A-1 in the academy before you are late!**

 **Quest Completion Award: +100 EXP, Genin rank**

 **Quest Failure: Genin rank, -50 Reputation with Umino Iruka**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

Naruto clearly didn't have time to contemplate what was going on, and he didn't want to lower Iruka's opinion of him, so he hit yes in a heartbeat and continued to run.

"Shitshitshitshitshit!"

 **6 Minutes Later, The Academy, Konohagakure no Sato**

Naruto threw open the door and stepped into the classroom. "Alright! I made it here on time!"

A large blue box popped up in front of him and sprayed virtual confetti out of it with a small celebratory sound.

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **Quest Complete!**

 **Quest Completion Reward: +100 EXP, Genin rank**

 **Secret Bonus Reward: Arrived in seven minutes or less: +50 EXP, +20 Reputation with Iruka Umino**

Another celebratory box popped up in front of him, this time with trumpets.

 **[LEVEL UP!]**

 **You can now level up to level 10!**

 **Reward: 5 Attribute points, Genin package added to inventory**

 **Go to the level menu to level up!**

Naruto simply swiped the tab away tiredly, resolving to deal with it later.

Kiba snorted in amusement. "What are you doing here dobe? Actual ninjas only remember? The new academy year starts in two weeks."

"What are you-" Naruto paused when he remembered that they all thought that he failed. "Look at the headband dog breath." He said, pointing his thumb at his headband.

"What?! But you failed! How do you have that?"

Naruto smirked. "That's for me to know and for you to not ever find out." He stated as he sat next to Sasuke. He felt a pain in his chest as he remembered Sasuke dying for him only about half an hour ago.

His chest tightened and he almost started to reach out just to touch Sasuke's live form, just to reassure himself.

The door slid open once again as Sakura and Ino rammed through the entrance, literally butting heads on their way in and arguing over who got into the room first.

Sakura spotted Naruto and ran over to him. "Get out of the seat you idiot! I'm sitting next to Sasuke!"

Naruto put his hands up in defense. "Come on Sakura-chan, I already sat here!"

"Hell if I care! Sasuke and I are destined to be together! Move!" She screeched unbearably.

"Why do you want to sit next to him so bad? You see him every day anyway!"

Sasuke coughed into his hand. "Well…I actually have something to talk about with Naruto, so I need him to sit here. I would appreciate it if you didn't make him move."

Shocked looks all around the room came onto people's faces. Sasuke never socialized with anyone, so it was completely foreign to them.

Sakura blushed hard. 'Sasuke-kun is actually talking to me. Ohmygod.'

"Oh…Alright then Sasuke-kun. I'll let you talk." She said with a happy giggle as she walked off with a triumphant smile.

Naruto leaned over, still feeling the same pain from before. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Sasuke sighed and spoke in a hushed voice. "Nothing. I just needed an excuse to get her to go away. But I guess that we can talk to keep up appearances. So, what's the deal? How did you become a Genin?"

Naruto raised his eyebrow. 'That's weird. He didn't do this last time.'

"Well I can't actually tell you, but I guess I can say that after I showed Iruka-sensei some skills, he decided that not being able to do the clone jutsu wasn't too big of a deal and he let me pass." Naruto explained vaguely.

Now Sasuke was legitimately intrigued. Naruto had shown Iruka something that was enough to make him bend the rules? "I suppose that you won't show me whatever it was that was so impressive?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh sure I can. Just not here. After we meet our Jounin-sensei, I can show you."

"Just like that? Ninja usually try to hide their secrets better than that you know." Sasuke said cautiously.

Naruto shook his head. "Nah its fine. You can't use the technique anyway, it uses too much chakra and you'd die."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "And you wouldn't?"

"Of course not, I have tons of chakra. More than anyone in this whole damn village. Except maybe Jiji. I don't know about him."

Sasuke hesitated for a moment. "What? How would you have that much chakra?"

"Uhh…..I guess I just do. I never really researched it. Haven't you noticed all of that chakra flaring around me whenever I try to use the clone jutsu? It's because I have so much chakra that using a technique that needs so little is really hard. I literally overcharge it so much that you can feel the chakra coming off of me." Naruto explained.

Sasuke smacked his forehead. "Oh. I guess I just never cared enough. So your reserves are just naturally that big?"

Naruto nodded simply.

"That's stupid overpowered. You'll be able to spam jutsu all over the place one day."

"Well one day you might have Susanoo, which is Japanese for fucking unstoppable." Naruto deadpanned.

"Fair enough. That'll be a long time in the future though. I don't even know how to activate it since I don't have the Sharingan yet so I can't read the Uchiha tomes. Stupid fucking tomes and their requirements." Sasuke grumbled in a disappointed voice.

'Huh. Again he's being a lot more open with me this time around. I guess he isn't as much of an asshole as he seems, he's just antisocial and broody.' Naruto thought to himself.

 **Three Hours Later**

The classroom door slid open as Kakashi walked in. Naruto didn't bother pranking him this time since he already knew what would happen. Naruto smiled as Kakashi walked into the room, as just seeing his teacher again was a happy moment for him. However the smile was one that would be worn when being relieved after seeing an old friend that you thought that you would never see again. One that Kakashi had become familiar with over the course of his career.

"You're late!" Sakura complained angrily.

"My first impression of all of you is….you're strange. Meet me on the roof."

With that, Kakashi body flickered out of the room, not even staying for more than a few seconds.

A minute later, they were all gathered on the roof. Kakashi sat on the railing and crossed his arms. "Alright then, it's time for all of you to introduce yourselves. Just your hobbies, likes, dislikes, and your dreams for the future."

Sakura raised her hand. "Can you show us how it's done Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well it isn't actually that hard, so you should be able to do it. Although I guess I can, so here goes. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have many hobbies, things that I like, and things that I dislike. My dreams for the future….I haven't really thought about it much." He said simply.

Naruto had been expecting things to unfold as such, but it didn't stop him from sighing.

Kakashi pointed to Sasuke. "You first duck butt."

Sasuke twitched at the nickname, but began regardless. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't have any hobbies, and I don't like anything in particular. I have many dislikes. My dream…no, my ambition is to kill a certain man and restore the Uchiha clan name to it's former glory."

Kakashi nodded and turned to Sakura. "Pinky, you're up."

Sakura perked up. "I'm Sakura Haruno! My hobby is playing trivia games and reading. I like…" She looked at Sasuke shyly and giggled. "My dreams for the future…." Another glance and giggle. "My dislikes are…..NARUTO!"

Naruto sighed sadly and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright then." He was fairly consumed in thoughts of Sasuke as well, just for different reasons than Sakura. He was still going after her of course, but his time in team 7 had made him recognize that she probably would never like him, even if he didn't want to accept it.

Kakashi also sighed, somewhat disappointed in Sakura's lack of drive for the shinobi lifestyle. "Next, blondie."

Naruto sat up straight. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. My hobbies are training and a little bit of gardening on the side. My likes are training, manga, and ramen. My dislikes are the three minute it takes to make ramen and arrogant people. My dreams for the future…I'm gonna be Hokage. And also…." He looked down into his open palm and shut it swiftly. "I won't let any of my precious people die ever agai-…ever."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the slight slip up, but moved on. 'Again huh? His records never stated anything about any people close to him dying.'

"Well then, all three of you meet me at training ground 3 at 9:00 AM tomorrow for your real Genin test."

"But Kakashi-sensei, we already became Genin!" Sakura complained in a confused manner.

Kakashi nodded. "That's true, but what you took was only the first test. The academy three jutsu and a few tests aren't enough to actually convince anyone that you're fit to be Genin. The test has a fairly high failure rate. If you fail, you'll be sent back to the academy to retake your final year."

In actuality, if they failed they would be made career Genin and would be put through the Genin program like most graduates.

"What?! But….but that's crazy! You can't just do that!"

Kakashi smiled and crouched to leap away. "I can and I will, otherwise Career Genin wouldn't exist. Do you really think that we have enough elite Jounin to assign three fresh Genin to all the time? Oh and by the way, don't eat breakfast tomorrow. You'll throw up if you do." He said before using a body flicker to disappear.

A blue box popped up in front of Naruto once again.

 **[Quest Alert!]**

 **Survival Test, Take two! – The previous Genin test was only the first trial! The next step is to complete Kakashi-sensei's bell test. You've done this once before, but it's time to do it again and prove to Kakashi that you can work with your team. If you fail, you'll be moved to the Genin program and become a Career Genin.**

 **Quest Completion Award: +200 EXP, Elite Genin Rank**

 **Quest Failure: +100 EXP, Career Genin Rank**

 **Accept?**

 **[Y/N]**

Naruto waited until Sasuke and Sakura left and tapped yes. He never knew about the whole elite and career Genin thing, but he liked the sound of Elite Genin.

 **20 Minutes Later, Training Ground 3**

"Alright Sasuke, time to show you that ability of mine. I'll probably use it against Kakashi-sensei tomorrow anyway, but I guess it's good for you to know about."

Naruto crossed his fingers and channeled chakra. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled happily.

All around him, about 10 clones popped into existence.

Sasuke took a step back in surprise. "Shadow clones? Those are solid clones! That would take tons of chakra."

Naruto nodded. "Yep, I told you I have a lot of chakra. I could make way more than this, hundreds if I wanted to."

Sasuke's eyes bugged out. "Hundreds?! That's insane! Show me or I won't believe you."

With a tilt of his head, Naruto agreed and crossed his fingers again. "Multi shadow clone jutsu!"

Suddenly, the entire training ground and more was enveloped in countless blasts of white chakra smoke, each of them dissipating and leaving a solid shadow clone behind, smirking proudly.

Sasuke twisted around and looked on in awe. "This….this is crazy. No one has this much chakra." He said disbelievingly as he got dizzy and began to breathe harder just looking at the mass of Naruto clones. He looked over at the original Naruto, who was standing proudly with his arms crossed, barely looking winded.

"Believe me now Sasuke?" Naruto said smugly.

Sasuke shook his head and put his hand to his eyes. "I guess I can't dispute it now, damn. I'm going to have to train harder to beat this. I'm more skilled than you and I can take you down in a fight, but even I can't take on hundreds of solid clones." He admitted grudgingly.

Naruto dispelled all of the clones and let the unused chakra return to him. "Don't feel bad Sasuke, I just have an unfair advantage. Once you unlock your Sharingan and whatever, you'll be able to deal with this right?"

"I…..Yeah I guess so." He stated, calming down somewhat now. He fixed his gaze back on Naruto with a somewhat larger amount of respect for the blond boy. "So, let's talk about what we're going to do tomorrow. What do you think that this test is going to be?"

Naruto smirked once again in a sense of sudden superiority. Dying once might have changed his appreciation for his team, and the fight against Haku alongside Sasuke might have spurred a big appreciation for Sasuke in particular, but he was still Naruto.

He raised his finger and wagged it. "Elementary my dear Watson. First of all, don't do what Kakashi-sensei said to. You need to eat breakfast, regardless of what he said."

Sasuke's eyebrow raised skeptically. "What? But he said that we would throw up. Besides, isn't one of the most important parts of shinobi lifestyle following the instructions of your commanding officers?"

"Sure, but why do you really think that he would tell us not to eat? After all, we've been through extensive training in the academy to make sure that we're in good shape and healthy. Even if we just ate, there's no reasonable amount of exercise or training that will make us throw up. So I ask you again, for what reason would Kakashi-sensei tell us not to eat the most important meal of the day? The one that starts our day and gives us the proper nutrients to function?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "What…..He wants us to be tired and hungry so that he can catch us off guard. So that we'll be weakened. He'll probably use some sort of food related incentive to prompt us to complete a task, but we'll be off mentally and physically from the lack of nutrients. Our chakra control and usage would probably be messed up and he would have the advantage."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Uhh…yeah. I was kinda hoping that I could explain it, but it's cool that you get it. So yeah…..that's the deal with the breakfast. Onto my second point though. Kakashi-sensei is probably gonna try to get us to not work together as a team by threatening us somehow. The real purpose of the test is gonna be to see if we'll work together under any odds."

"How do you know all of this? The Naruto that I know wouldn't just be able to figure this out. So who clued you in?" Sasuke said skeptically.

Naruto sweat a little bit, only now realizing that he never actually came up with a story. "Ah…well…uhh…I was talking a Jounin that I met three months ago and he told me a little bit about Kakashi-sensei in passing and how he runs things."

Technically he didn't lie. Three months ago in his time, he met Kakashi and he told Naruto the true purpose of the test.

Sasuke was still somewhat skeptical, but he accepted the answer. "Alright then. I guess that we should tell Haruno about this tomorrow."

"Why do you call her that? Her name is Sakura you know." Naruto said with a narrowing of his eyes.

"Why should I have respect for her? She's just a useless fangirl whose only skill is academics. She's the bottom of our class in combat and situational awareness, and all she does is diet and worry about her appearance." Sasuke snapped back.

Naruto stepped forward with a slightly noticeable anger. "Hey! Don't talk about her like that! She's your teammate you know! You should at least try to be optimistic about her."

"Why are you getting so angry about this? She hates you anyways you know! She has nothing going for her except her looks, and even then, she isn't all that. The only reason that you like her is because she gives you attention by yelling at you and berating you!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shirt and got close to him. "You don't even know her! You never even tried to talk to her!"

Naruto was pushed back onto the ground. "She tries to talk to me plenty for me to know what kind of person she is! All she ever does is try to impress me with how freakishly thin she is and how little she eats! She constantly says that she would give her life for me, and I don't want her to! I never want anyone that I know to die for me again! She isn't a ninja, she's just a little girl who doesn't understand the lifestyle that she volunteered for!"

Naruto's face softened and he faltered when Sasuke mentioned people dying, knowing clearly that he was talking about his family. Of course, it also brought up his own memories of Sasuke dying for him on the bridge only hours ago. "…Yeah. Sorry, I get that. It's your right to feel how you will." He said as he relaxed his muscles and laid in the grass.

Sasuke relaxed as well when Naruto calmed down. "Exactly. So we'll tell her about the test tomorrow before Kakashi-sensei shows up."

With that, Sasuke walked away and out of sight.

Naruto sighed and also began to travel towards his apartment.

 **The Next Day, Training Ground 3, 12:00**

Kakashi walked into the clearing and greeted the three Genin. "Yo. Sorry I'm late, but a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way round."

"LIAR!" Sakura yelled with the force of a hundred.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah well let's get onto the task." He said as he pulled two silver bells out of his pocket. "You will each attempt to take one of these bells from me. The one who fails will be tied to a stump, will not be fed lunch, and will be sent back to the academy. Everyone begin."

The three Genin all jumped away into the forest as soon as he gave the signal. Kakashi looked around to see where they were hiding. He found Sakura immediately, Sasuke in a couple of seconds, and Naruto in about ten seconds. 'Well at least they all know to hide. I was afraid that Naruto would stick around and try to fight me head on.'

Kakashi also disappeared from the clearing and went after Sakura first. 'I know from her records that she excels in academics, so let's see if that reflects onto her combat and field skills.' He thought to himself as he observed her crouching in a stationary position behind some thick bushes.

As he began to approach her from the trees, a branch gave out under him and he was forced to leap back, alerting Sakura. Kakashi looked at the branch curiously. The branch had looked fairly sturdy and he didn't put much force onto it, so he didn't know why it would snap.

When he looked close, Kakashi noticed multiple cuts on the underside of the branch that were designed to cause spider web fracturing when any force was applied to it. The cuts were clearly intentional and looked fresh. 'A trap? But when did….Ah, I suppose that giving them three hours to prepare and almost a full day notice on the site gives them plenty of time to do that. Clever, but it won't be enough to stop me.'

Unfortunately, Sakura had been alerted by the sound of the branch hitting the ground and whipped around. Kakashi began to sprint toward her at a low chunin pace. A scared look crossed Sakura's face as she froze up in fear.

Kakashi internally sighed. 'It looks like this one is done for.'

Of course, the universe had to prove him wrong when the ground began to crumble underneath him to reveal a pitfall. Again, it wasn't enough to stop him, but it did slow him down momentarily. Before he could even begin to advance again.

A large log was swinging towards him quickly, with explosive tags on the side facing him. He ducked underneath it and allowed it to swing past him, colliding with a tree next to him and causing an explosion that easily destroyed the tree. The force also threw him to the left somewhat as he was forced to duck into a roll to prevent injury.

The assault didn't stop there as three volleys of shuriken and kunai came from his front, his back, and above him. He couldn't move to the right due to the damage from the explosion, so he had to jump to the left. As soon as he did so, a loop of rope raised from the ground under him, attempting to snare his legs together.

Unfortunately, whoever set the trap hadn't calculated for his quick use of the substitution jutsu, which allowed him to easily escape by switching him with a log that was a few meters away.

Kakashi couldn't rest there however, as ten shadow clones of Naruto popped into existence and flew towards him, fists cocked back in preparation to attack. He easily intercepted them and popped about five almost instantly, still moving to combat the rest when a large ball of flame spewed out of the brush towards him, taking the last five clones with it as well as engulfing Kakashi.

When the fire died down, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. It was clear that he had dodged the attack since there weren't any remnants left, but they lost sight of him again.

Naruto and Sasuke jumped onto the ground next to Sasuke. Naruto kicked at the ground. "Dammit. I was really hoping to get him by the rope trap."

"There's no time to be complaining right now, so keep focusing on finding him again." Sasuke said as he surveyed the area.

Naruto nodded and crossed his fingers. "Multi shadow clone jutsu!" He yelled as hundreds of clones popped into existence. "You all know what to do, so get to it!" He commanded as the three of them backed out into the large clearing once again.

Each of the clones pulled out two kunai wrapped with an explosive tag and threw them into various places around the forest. There were now highly lethal kunai scattered in every direction sticking into the ground, trees, and pretty much everything in sight.

They may have been cloned kunai, but they still all had a physical form and could be charged with chakra just like a real explosive tag.

Kakashi jumped into the clearing. "OK Naruto just call them off! We don't want to level our entire training ground on the first day! The test is over!"

Naruto smirked and popped all the clones, the kunai coming with them. "I knew you'd come around Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed. "Just what were you planning to do if I hadn't called the test?"

Naruto tilted his head. "Detonate the bombs of course."

He sweatdropped. "You know Naruto, your records really weren't right about you. You're even more insane than they say."

Sakura stepped forward with a first over her chest. "But Kakashi-sensei, none of us got any bells!" She expressed with a concerned tone. Sasuke and Naruto had filled her in of course, but due to the fact that Naruto was the one who proposed the idea, she still didn't trust that he was right.

Kakashi straightened back out. "That's true. In that case, you all…..PASS!"

Sakura sighed in relief while Sasuke and Naruto just smirked knowingly.

"You see, the true purpose of this test was to see if you three were able to work as a proper unit. Without teamwork, a cell falls apart. By working together to try to get the bells from me, you showed that your can work as a proper team under pressure, even if you have a large incentive to not do so."

"You all know the shinobi rules right?"

Three nods from the Genin.

"Well there's a phrase that my sensei used to say. Those that abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash." Kakashi recited seriously. "I take this phrase very seriously in my teams, and I will expect each of you to follow it as well. Understood?"

All three Genin stood at attention. "Hai!"

Kakashi relaxed and smiled. "Very good. Then as of today, I welcome you to the life of Shinobi. Congratulations team 7, serve the tree well."

 **[Congratulations!]**

 **Quest Complete!**

 **Quest Completion Reward: +200 EXP, Elite Genin Rank**

 **Secret Bonus Reward: Preemptively proved your worth to Sasuke, +100 Reputation with Sasuke Uchiha, Progress towards losing attraction towards Sakura Haruno**

 **Two Hours Later, Naruto's Apartment, Konohagakure no Sato**

Naruto plopped down on his bed. "Menu. Character." He said as a blue rectangle popped up in front of him once again and switched to the guide. "Hmmm….What to check out first? How about…Stats."

The screen changed once again and displayed a 2D shadowed in outline of Naruto. It had all of his gear rendered over it with stats next to them.

 **[Konoha Shinobi Headband]**

 **This headband previously belonged to Iruka Umino, Naruto Uzumaki's academy teacher. It was obtained when Naruto saved Iruka from Mizuki Toji, a traitor of the hidden leaf. It signifies your loyalty to Konohagakure no Sato. Gives protection for your forehead.**

 **[Orange Jacket]**

 **This is a simple orange jacket to put over your shirt. It can be worn in the cold, windy, and even normal days. It is a fairly good jacket all around as far as efficiency goes, but it is somewhat of an eyesore, which causes people to instantly be put off by your presence. It also makes stealth somewhat harder.**

 **[Orange pants]**

 **This is a simple pair of orange pants. They are comfortable and easy to wear. It can be worn in the cold, windy, and even normal days. It is a fairly good pair of pants all around as far as efficiency goes, but it is somewhat of an eyesore, which causes people to instantly be put off by your presence. It also makes stealth somewhat harder.**

 **[Shinobi Sandals]**

 **These are a pair of standard Konoha shinobi sandals. They are flexible and good for almost any type of situation. They can be easily modified to your whims.**

"People think that my orange is an eyesore?! Awww." Naruto complained.

He looked next to his avatar and saw his actual stats and the descriptions for them. He decided to read up on what they meant first.

 **[Attribute Points and Attributes]**

 **Every time you Level Up, five Attribute Points are automatically generated, which you can then use to increase your own Attributes.**

 **Your Attributes are representations of your physical and mental abilities. You have the ability to distribute your Attribute Points manually.**

 **STR represents your raw physical strength.**

 **DEX represents how nimble and agile you are, determining your accuracy as well as attack speed and attack evasion.**

 **STA represents how sturdy you are and determines your hit points.**

 **INT represents your ability to learn and reason with raw knowledge.**

 **WIS represents your common sense and problem solving ability. It also represents your resistance against mental attacks.**

 **Name: Uzumaki Naruto**

 **Title: Konoha Elite Genin**

 **Level: 10**

 **Age: 13**

 **HP: 1000/1000**

 **CP: 1000/1000**

 **STR: 12**

 **STA: 50**

 **DEX: 15**

 **INT: 10**

 **WIS: 7**

 **LUK: ?**

 **Status: Nine-tails Jinchuuriki (Passive) (+ 100 HP, + 100 CP Per Level), Prankster King (Passive) (-15% Reputation Gains, + 10% EXP to [Trap] skill, + 10% EXP to [Stealth] skill).**

 **Perks:**

 **[Outside the Box]**

 **[Jashin's Blessing]**

 **Save Point Rebirth**

 **Flaws:**

 **[Eyesore]**

 **-5% Reputation gain**

 **-10% to all social interactions**

 **-20% to stealth**

 **Additional -10% to social interactions with females**

 **[Pariah]**

 **-20% reputation gain for citizens of Konoha that are aware of your Jinchuuriki status**

 **[Headstrong]**

 **-5% reasoning ability**

 **[Corrosive Chakra]**

 **Your chakra is always somewhat corrosive to other living beings due to it being mixed with the nine-tails chakra over the course of your life. When using the nine-tails chakra, this flaw is increased immensely.**

 **-10 Damage to another being for every minute that they are exposed to your raw chakra**

 **Attribute Points: 5**

A tick mark formed on Naruto's forehead. "Why does my orange clothing bring so much despair?! But hey, those trapping and stealth skills are pretty good. Plus that damn fox is finally good for something with those boosts."

Naruto went back to the character menu and thought for a moment before pressing the skills tab. "Let's see what I've got."

 **[Skills]**

 **Observe – Passive/Active – 1 – Your skill in observing your surroundings. By saying the name of this skill and pointing your view at a specific object or being, you can see their status and general knowledge about them. As you level up this skill through continuous use, it will become more advanced and will show you more things.**

 **Kunai Bukijutsu – Passive/Active – 3 – Passively increases accuracy. When active it increases ranged damage.**

 **Shurikenjutsu – Passive/Active – 4 - Passively increases accuracy. When active it increases ranged damage.**

 **Trap – Passive – 6 – Passively increases skill with making and placing traps. Also increases likelihood of recognizing and sensing enemy traps.**

 **Stealth – Passive – 5 – Passively increases your skill when trying to sneak into and out of places. Passively increases the user's ability to avoid being tracked or spotted by others.**

 **Transformation – Active – MAX – Actively allows the user to become anyone or anything. This perfected form of transformation is used as a true transformation, not an illusion that most shinobi use.**

 **Substitution – Active – 3 – Used to change places with objects to prevent damage to the user.**

 **Shadow Clone Jutsu – Active – 7 – A very chakra intensive jutsu that allows the user to create solid clones of themselves made purely of densely compacted chakra. Each of these clones is able to use any technique available to the original and will send memories back to the jutsu user upon dispelling.**

 **Chakra walking – Active – 2 – By flowing chakra through the chakra points of a limb, the user can grab onto and stick to any surface, including water at later levels.**

Naruto read the list of skills carefully to make sure that he properly absorbed all of the information. He tapped on the [Trap] skill to see what type of advantages it gave.

 **[Trap (Passive) LV6]**

The use of traps is an essential skill for any aspiring shinobi. They can be used for a multitude of purposes ranging from distractions to straight out death traps. Pranks are a very good way to harmlessly train this skill.

Passively increases Trap effectiveness 15%

Passively increases Trap damage 15%

Passively increases Trap placement 15%

Naruto grinned happily as he read the details to himself. The idea that pulling pranks would help him advance his trapping skills made him somewhat giddy.

Next he backed out and tapped on the stealth tab.

 **[Stealth (Passive) LV5]**

All shinobi require stealth, but some are better at it than others. Sneaking around and hiding so as not to be seen by friend nor foe is an essential skill.

Passively increases Stealth infiltration 12.5%

Passively increases Stealth avoidance 12.5%

Passively increases Stealth concealment 12.5%

Once again, Naruto grinned happily as he exited out and went to the level tab. He noticed again that he had five attribute points from when he leveled up earlier that day, so he could level up some of his attributes.

After a few minutes of thinking, he decided to place two points into strength, and three into wisdom, bringing his strength to 15 and his wisdom to 10. He figured that it would be good to have all of his stats in the double digit range.

"Now onto our last task for today, that Genin package." He said as he navigated to his inventory and found the package that he had supposedly gotten for leveling up to level 10.

When he tapped its icon, it disappeared and shimmered into existence in his lap. A medium sized white box with red ribbon wrapped around it landed in front of him. He shuffled over to it after closing the screen and carefully opened it.

Inside were two new sets of both Kunai and Shuriken and 10,000 ryo.

Naruto yawned and stretched. "I guess I should go to sleep for now."

He proceeded to get ready for bed and lay awake for a little while exploring the different aspects of his ability and the menus. "Hmm. Oh, I guess I should check out that level menu and level up to level 10." He said, navigating to the level tab.

 **[LEVEL 9 -** **10]**

Naruto tapped on the button quickly. The same animation from before when he leveled up played with trumpets and all before flipping over and revealing a screen with multiple grayed out boxes and some numbers above them. A few boxes transformed into readable words.

 **[LEVEL UP SKILLS]**

 **Congratulations! Level 10 has unlocked your ability to buy skills with tokens. You can receive tokens from situations such as special quests and events. You have been given a starting 1000 tokens to start.**

 **Tokens: 1000**

 **Taijutsu: Freestyle; Advanced Genin – 200 Tokens**

 **Chakra Walking II – 100 Tokens**

 **Beginner Kunai Forms I – 200 Tokens**

 **Beginner Shuriken Maneuvers – 200 Tokens**

 **Chakra Limb Enhancement – 300 Tokens**

 **Durable Shadow Clones – 500 Tokens**

 **Rasengan and Required Chakra Control – 800 Tokens**

 **Nine-tails Chakra Control I – 1200 Tokens**

 **Sage Mode: Basic – 2500 Tokens**

Naruto took almost 20 minutes to slowly decide what to choose. Eventually he chose to take The Advanced Genin Freestyle Taijutsu and Rasengan, using up all of his points. He considered taking the durable shadow clones instead of Rasengan to keep some tokens, but he recognized one of the signature jutsu of his hero and chose it instead.

Pain flooded into his head, and unfortunately it was extremely intense and stuck around. Eventually Naruto succumbed to the pain and passed out in his bed.

 **The Next Day, Naruto's Apartment, Konohagakure no Sato**

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and groaned. "Ughhhh. Learning those skills really did a number on me." He complained as he stretched while laying down, noticing that the pain was now gone.

….

"Holy shit I know how to do the Rasengan! That's fucking awesome!" He said, shooting out of bed and sticking out his palm, facing it upwards. "Rasengan!"

A blue orb of violently rotating chakra grew in his right hand in an instant as Naruto focused. It wasn't effortless by any means and it was clear that he would need a lot more training to use it in battle flawlessly, but Naruto was happy with it nonetheless.

A voice was heard from behind Naruto. "How do you know the Rasengan? Who are you?"

Naruto froze in place, heart beating faster and faster every second, sweat beginning to stream down his face. He slowly turned to look behind him as he considered his options. His instincts kicked in and he began to formulate a plan, keeping the Rasengan powerfully rotating in his hand and twisting towards the figure with it.

Standing in the doorway to his room was none other than the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

….

"Jiji…..I swear…..this isn't what it-" Naruto was cut off as Hiruzen's forearm slammed into his windpipe and he was shoved against a wall as blood and saliva flew out of his mouth. "Urk-"

/

-TO BE CONTINUED-

\

 **Author's Note:** Hahahahahaha. MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA.

I'm sorry.


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